Nuero Case Study
Dan Kneitel is an ex-professional snowboarder, whose career in the mountains ended prematurely following a severe snowmobile accident. After 10 years of recovery, Dan was finally able to get back on his beloved snowboard.
On the first day of the 2019 riding season, Dan fell snowboarding while riding on his toe edge at a very high speed. He landed on his right shoulder, which sustained a high impact hit. After sustaining his injury, Dan worked with a local physiotherapist, Zoe Hunt, to create a recovery plan.
Through the implementation of neuroplasticity techniques, Dan was able to make an unprecedentedly quick recovery to his ligament injury and safely get back to a high level of professional level of riding.
My Diagnosis
After falling on his right shoulder while snowboarding at a high speed, Dan was diagnosed with a grade 1-2 Acriomlavicular (AC) joint separation and a possible sternoclavicular (SC) joint sprain.
Pain Level Assessment
As Dan had been diagnosed with an AC joint sprain, the range of movement and muscle testing was completed with caution.
The bruising from catching a front side edge while snowboarding at 60km/h
Active range of movement in right shoulder:
- Pain on active flexion over 60 degrees
- Able to achieve hand on hip
- Abduction to 60 degrees
- Tenderness on palpation over right AC joint
- No observed/palpable joint gap/step
“After 10 years of experience working with shoulder injuries in Whistler, Zoe was confident Dan would need 8 weeks for a full recovery.”
Road to Recovery
Given the grade of Dan’s injury and the level of riding he wished to return to, Zoe estimated his ligament injury would take 8 weeks to fully recover.
Exercises Prescribed
Isometric rotator cuff strengthening/activation
Postural corrections to retract scapula and prevent secondary pecs from shortening.
My Progress
After using neuroplasticity to successfully make a full recovery from a nearly lethal snowmobile incident, Dan wanted to use those same techniques to treat his ligament injury. After self-treating himself, he taught Zoe—his physiotherapist—how to apply these techniques to him.
By December 19, after the first week of treatment Zoe was shocked to see that Dan demonstrated a full active range of flexion and reported significant improvement in his pain.
His shoulder and chest were still visibly bruised; however, he had no tenderness on palpation over his AC joint.
By December 27, Dan’s abduction had increased to 150 degrees.
When reaching behind his back, he was able to reach equally with both his left and right arm.
Through the implementation of neuroplasticity techniques, Dan was able to make a full recovery in unprecedented time.
By early January, Dan felt comfortable enough to return to snowboarding and reported he was able to complete a 5-10ft drop.
At this point he has regained full range of movement and the focus in physiotherapy sessions had shifted to strengthening and movement pattern/stability exercises.
On January 10th, Dan had returned to riding his “regular terrain”—which for him meant a 30ft drop. He was able to complete this stunt with no feelings of instability or pain. He had achieved a full range of movement and was continuing to work on strength in range.
In Zoe’s 10 years of experience working with shoulder injuries in Whistler, she was astounded by Dan’s unbelievably quick recovery time. What was supposed to be an 8 week recovery, was shortened to less than 3 weeks.
On January 10th, Dan had returned to riding his “regular terrain”—which for him meant a 30ft drop. He was able to complete this stunt with no feelings of instability or pain. He had achieved a full range of movement and was continuing to work on strength in range.
In Zoe’s 10 years of experience working with shoulder injuries in Whistler, she was astounded by Dan’s unbelievably quick recovery time. What was supposed to be an 8 week recovery, was shortened to less than 3 weeks.
Dan was able to return to his beloved sport much faster than she had anticipated, thanks to the incorporation of neuroplasticity techniques.
“What was expected to be an 8-week recovery, was shortened to just less than 3 weeks”
-Zoe Hunt